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Wednesday, 18 January 2017

(The Star) Over a million took advantage of free MRT rides

An average 30,000 commuters use the MRT Sungai Buloh-Semantan line daily since it was introduced a month ago.

A total 1.2 million commuters have travelled on the route during the month-long free ride between Dec 16 last year and Jan 16.

MRT chief operating officer Muhammad Isom Azis said although commuters were required to pay for their travel starting yesterday, the number of passengers did not drop.

This, he said, was based on feedback from all 12 stations along the line.

He added that they would have the total number of commuters only by the end of the day.

“We don’t have the number of commuters now, but random checks revealed that there is not much difference in the number between today and the one month period it was free,” he told reporters during his visit to the Sungai Buloh MRT station yesterday

On the MRT services along the line for the past month, Muhammad Isom said it had been smooth except for minor technical issues.

This included several incidents of groups crowding the auto gates to get their members to access the station in a sequence.

“Group leaders stopped other commuters from using the same gate for fear that their members would be left behind when getting through the automated gate,” he said, adding that such a thing was not practical especially during peak hours.

Another problem, he said, was children abusing the emergency call line.

Muhammad Isom also encouraged commuters to use the Touch n' Go card to enjoy discounted rate, adding that there was also a 50% discount for students, senior citizens and disabled folk.

From yesterday, commuters have to pay fares ranging from RM1.20 to RM3.90 depending on the distance travelled under the cash fare structure and between RM1.20 and RM3.40 via cashless payment.

The fare between Sungai Buloh and Semantan is RM3.90 and with the Touch n’ Go the fare would be only RM3.40.